Sleeping Beauty
by Sana Jisushi
Summary: Minto's got a big audition, stray chimera are roaming the streets and Ichigo, Zakuro and company need to lend moral support! Gen one-shot, all canon ships.


Aizawa Minto stirred her tea with a tiny spoon, the family symbol engraved on the bottom of the handle. She delicately tapped the spoon against the edge of her personal teacup, laid it on a silky white napkin, and took a dignified sip in the privacy of her own room.

Well, it _would_ have been private if not for four girls' heads poking through the doorway.

The heiress looked up from her tea and tilted her head to the side. "I didn't know you were coming." She would have followed up with an "_or_ that the maids let you in", but the sight of a dark-haired model among the group cut off her scathing remark and drew out a small blush on her face. She put down the teacup and stood up to open the door completely.

Momomiya Ichigo sweatdropped with one hand behind her head. "Aha, well... we just thought we'd drop by!"

Fujiwara Zakuro sighed and put her palm to her forehead. "You're being obvious..."

"I completely agree with oneesama." Minto crossed her arms and stared at the redhead in front of her. "It's not that I don't like all of you coming here--"

"Wooow!" Huang Bu-ling leapt over Midorikawa Retasu, who instinctively cowered with her hands above her head, and attached onto a light fixture. "It's shinier than Bu-ling remembers nano da!"

"Hands off that!" Minto flapped her arms as the little girl hopped off onto the ground. "Hmph. As I was saying, it's not that I don't like _most_ of you coming here, but I'd like to at least know why."

Zakuro looked to the others. "She's got a point. If it were you breaking into my dressing room, I'd want an explanation."

_Then why don't you give it?_ Ichigo grumbled in her head and put on her best cheery waitress look. "Well, you looked a little worried about something at work today, so we figured we'd go cheer you up!"

Retasu shakily uncovered her head and clenched the bottom of her skirt as she spoke. "W-well, it really wasn't as bad as the time you, um..." Minto's red-faced glare shut her up. "I'm really sorry!"

Minto ran a hand over her hair - not through it, because that would make a mess of her perfectly set buns. She looked between the four girls - the little one climbing a clothes rack, the shrinking violet wringing one of her thin green braids, the beautiful older girl shaking her head and the catgirl betraying her perky mask with twitching black ears and a tail. Finally, she let out a sigh and turned to sit back in the chair. "You can all come in, you know."

Once the others were settled down, sitting on chairs, beds and cushions -- _not_ the good ones, she'd learned her lesson after her mother's reaction to the pillow fight incident -- Minto took a deep breath and another sip of her tea. "You really shouldn't be worried. I'm just a little nervous over something."

"Over what?" Ichigo blinked.

"Well..."

"Tell us nano da!" Bu-ling fidgeted on the side of the bed, clearly disappointed that she wasn't allowed to jump on it. "Bu-ling and friends want to know no da!"

Minto clutched her forehead, praying that the child wouldn't break anything. "It's nothing big! Just..."

"Hm?" Zakuro looked over.

Minto blushed and mumbled the rest. "...an audition, that's all."

"Whaaaaaat?" Ichigo shot up like a cat-eared firework before it pops. "Audition for what? Tell us, tell us, tell us!"

Was this karmic? Minto had bothered Ichigo all the time about dates with her boyfriend and things like that, but whatever damage she'd caused surely didn't deserve making the dignified heiress of the Aizawa family turn beet red. Of course not. She shifted in her chair. "I just got moved up to the advanced group in our ballet company, and we're doing a huge production of _The Sleeping Beauty_ soon."

Retasu bit her lip. "I-isn't that the one that's four hours long...?"

"WHAT?" Ichigo's ears and tail stood straight up. "Four hours!? How can you dance for four hours straight?"

Zakuro pushed a piece of hair behind her shoulder. "That's counting intermissions, and large portions of the production tend to be cut for audience convenience."

Minto nodded, putting her fingers to her cheek in hopes that the cold would temper her blush. "Like I told you, it's nothing to worry about. I know I'll make it in."

"Bu-ling wants to try too nano da!" The little girl started to do some strange hybrid of ballet prancing and jungle animal rampages. A cushion flew off the bed and hit Retasu straight in the face. Minto jumped from her chair and started flapping her arms again, screaming about Bu-ling jumping on her bed and making a mess.

Ichigo sighed and sunk into her chair, her cat ears drooping before she realized they were there and clamped her hands over them in case a servant came in. She turned over to Retasu, who was recovering from the pillow attack.

"Are you okay?"

Retasu held her glasses up to her eyes to see if they'd bent. "I think so..."

Ichigo looked to see if Minto was paying attention -- no, she was still chasing Bu-ling -- and moved to whisper. "We need to keep Minto from getting nervous! Shouldn't we come and see her try out?"

Retasu frowned and tried to bend her glasses back into shape. "I-I don't know..."

Ichigo smiled and took the glasses, straightened them out, and put them back on her friend's face. "Don't worry, we've done this kind of thing a hundred times! It always helps!"

Zakuro, who had stood up and walked behind them during the commotion, leaned over so her head was between theirs. "You didn't say that when we were pushing you on dates."

Ichigo's face flushed so quickly, they swore they could see steam rising from it. "Th-th-that's totally different! And besides, that worked out too! So it's fine!"

The model stood up straight again. "I've still got a bad feeling about this."

-

"You're not even auditioning!" Minto crossed her arms. "What on earth are you here for?"

"Um..." Retasu fidgeted with her braids again. "Moral support?"

"Look, just let us watch, okay?" Ichigo sweatdropped. "We promise we won't let any disasters happen, okay?"

Bu-ling pouted. She knew when a statement was directed to her. "Bu-ling wanted to dance too nano da."

Zakuro shrugged. "If they want to come, let them. Unless it's not allowed."

Minto turned a bit pink. "Well, there's no rule against watching... Fine, I'll let you. Just don't cause any trouble. The last thing I need is for something to interrupt me." She swivelled around and walked towards the stage doors. The other four looked between themselves.

"I hope this helps..."

"It'd better. She deserves this part."

"Minto-oneechan being a princess would be super awesome nano da!"

Ichigo pumped her fist in the air. "All right! Let's all hope for Minto getting what she wanted!"

Behind the door, Minto's ears twitched. She sighed and leaned against the wall.

-

It moved.

Without something to guide it, it could only move on its own and do what it needed to do. What did it need to do? The others before it knew. They had to find something to become. Then they had to find something to destroy. And then... what? Probably get something to eat. Everything needed that to live. After that, it wasn't sure. It could probably just do whatever it wanted.

First things first.

-

"Thank you for your time." The casting director nodded at a ballerina as she rushed off the stage. "Next, Aizawa Minto-san."

"WOOHOO!" Bu-ling waved little flags in the audience. The director whirled around and glared at the little girl ten rows back with three sets of hands clamped over her mouth. She turned back to the stage, where Minto stood waiting for the director's suggestion.

"Okay, now you-- _what on earth is that._"

A tiny gelatinous creature bobbed through the air as it floated onto stage right. It stopped in midair and started to float in a circle, tilting this way and that. The casting director gaped. Minto frowned and started to reach for her pendant - perfect. It wasn't in her leotard. She could see the others looking at theirs, but again, there was another problem - which was probably what they were discussing. They were in a public place! Plus, the chimera parasite hadn't even merged with anything. It didn't even seem to know what it was doing; it had stared into a spotlight and was now clumsily bobbling around like a drunken bird. The casting director looked up. Minto took a deep breath. There was only one thing to do.

"Ahem."

She began her routine. Twisting her torso forward, gracefully sweeping her arms back, she stepped in a zig-zag while counting the rhythm in her head. The casting assistant quickly pressed the button on the CD player. Minto jumped a little further to stage left, avoiding the blinded alien's midair stumbling, and swept her leg over and above it before moving back to the centre.

"Hm." Zakuro nodded from the crowd. "The show must go on, eh?"

Ichigo detached the shrunken Masha from her cell phone and watched him return to normal size. She whispered, "Go! Go!" and pointed up at the alien. The pink puffball dashed under the theatre seats and towards the stage.

Minto stood on her toes with her arms out. She lifted one leg and spun, this time going just under the intruder. She couldn't touch it; if it merged with her, who knew what would happen. All she knew was that the dance company probably didn't want to have to deal with whatever Mintzilla would emerge.

The alien blinked. The big light still made its brain ache, but at least it could see in patches now after being blinded. It didn't really know what that moving blob was, but it tried to merge with it. Every time it tried, though, the thing would move - twirl when it tried to get the leg that was sticking out, bow when it aimed for the head, prance to the other side of the box (were they in a box?) just when it had it in its sights. It was tired, and its brain ached, and it didn't want to be here. It wanted something to eat. Maybe that big thing over there was food.

Minto winced as the alien crashed into the cyclorama. At least, she thought, it didn't seem to be much of a threat. She kept on dancing through the routine, ignoring the rippling of the fabric behind her that meant the alien had hit the cyc again. Had she been the sort of performer who gave in to the temptation to make eye contact with members of the audience instead of vaguely focus on the group as a whole or the exit sign, she might have noticed a little pink thing crashing around under the chairs and making a beeline for the stage, leaving audience garbage from the last show strewn in his wake. She probably would have noticed a member of the production company rushing towards the casting director and whispering in her ear.

"Stop!" The casting director stood up. Minto froze with one leg and both arms in the air and swooped back into a normal standing position. The director trembled a bit and pointed at the clumsy, blinded parasite. "That thing is dangerous. Awayuki, tell her."

Awayuki, for that looked to be her name, held a clipboard tightly to her chest. "It's one of those things those Tokyo Mew Mew girls were fighting. They turn into monsters. I saw one on TV once!"

Minto gave an invisible sigh of relief. At least it wasn't about her performance, and they knew to stay away, even if it wasn't exactly dangerous right now. Then again, asking if they were evacuating might make it look like she wanted an easy way out of performing. "Tell me what to do."

The casting director pushed up her glasses and attempted to look composed. "Well, we'll have to evacuate until someone -- what is that?"

A synthesized rendition of trumpet fanfare chirped from beneath the theatre seats. Masha burst out, an empty drink cup turned upside down on his head, and zoomed towards the alien. It had regained its sight by now, and it flew off stage left, puffball following it. Minto sighed, the other Mews sweatdropped, and the casting director and her assistants just gaped as the apparent re-enactment of a Pac-Man game came repeatedly on and off stage.

This was the most anticlimactic Chimera encounter in recorded history.

-

Things were back to normal at Cafe Mew Mew. Then again, with Zakuro glaring at the customers, Retasu dropping glasses and Bu-ling performing the chicken dance on the cash register, things were never really normal. Shirogane Ryou leaned against the wall by the kitchen door and smirked.

"Glad you could get that fixed up," he said.

Ichigo made a face as she left the kitchen with a tray on each hand and one on her head. "That's easy for you to say. You're the one who's always overworking me." She stomped over to the tables she was serving and put on her best waitress smile.

Retasu stood up from sweeping the pieces of broken glass into the dustbin and shuffled over to Zakuro. She took a sharp breath and whispered. "Do you think she got it?"

"Hm?" Zakuro looked over at Minto, who was calmly sipping her tea again. "She certainly earned points for dealing with the Chimera. Most people would have just screamed and ran away." She smiled a little. "A true performer."

"Bu-ling wants to be a ballerina too nano da!" The little girl popped up in front of them, now dressed in a cheap Halloween princess costume, and began to twirl and prance about. "Bu-ling is Cinderella no da~!"

"Sh-should we tell her it's _Sleeping Beauty_?" Retasu wrung her hands.

Zakuro shook her head. "Cinderella's in that one. It's just that her part's almost always cut."

"Didn't know you knew ballet," Ryou ventured, still not moving from the wall.

She shrugged. "I took it as a child. It's how I got into modelling."

Ichigo flopped over onto the ground by Minto's solo table, clinging onto the broom for support. "Closing time can't come soon enough..."

"You're whining, Ichigo." Minto took a sip of her tea and flipped the page of her magazine. "Just because you have a date tonight doesn't mean you should sacrifice your work."

"Look who's talking!" Ichigo's pigtails stood on end. "You never even work at all!"

Minto gave a tiny smirk. "I've got more important things to do with my time. And I do enough work, thank you. It's just teatime now."

Ichigo got to her feet and put her hands on her hips, quickly moving again to grab and cling to the broom that she'd dropped. "Just because you found out whether or not you got the part this morning doesn't mean you should sit around and drink tea!" She marched off to the back room, ignoring her coworkers and boss standing off to the side.

"She already found out?" Retasu blinked wide-eyed at the others. "B-but she hasn't told anyone?"

Zakuro tilted her head up to the stained-glass windows and pushed a piece of hair behind her shoulder. "Everyone's got to have their secrets sometimes."

Minto closed her eyes, sipped her tea and smiled.


End file.
